Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Hi Everyone! I hope you’re all having a great holiday season. Best wishes to you and yours, and may AWESOME STUFF happen to you this coming year in 2017!!

My year in review:
1. My second YA novel, BOTTLED, released on July 7. I’ve officially earned enough $ to have paperbacks made by my Clean Reads publisher, and here’s a shot of them all decked out in Christmas array. I just love seeing my books in multiples!! By the way, I noticed the ebook is still only 99 cents on Amazon HERE--ya can't beat that price.

2. My third YA novel, THE LYING PLANET, released on September 19. I’ve also gotten copies of this for myself to sell at writer conferences like the annual spring SCBWI gathering I go to in the Portland, Oregon, area.

3. I’m featured today on the ADVENTURES TO YA PUBLISHING blog as a guest post author, talking about The Zen of Accepting Bad Reviews. Come visit, read, and comment HERE!

4. At the beginning of the year, I started a fairy tale retelling of a more obscure French story, and I’m pleased to say that I’m just a couple of chapters away from finishing the rough draft of the book, at about 81,000 words. I’m really surprised I did so much on it, since I was swamped with editorial notes and release promo for my two other books this year. Talk about busy!! Whew. Remind me never to do that again. lol Anyway, I hope to shape up this book and be querying an agent by about March or so. Query trenches, here I come! Email me if you write YA and you might like to beta or critique partner swap in January! (carolriggsauthor at gmail)

5. I’m officially announcing today that I’m taking time off from blogging to concentrate on my writing for 2017. Blogging has been a great adventure for me since I began it in 2010, but now I feel my focus is better spent elsewhere. While I love visiting blogs and seeing what my bloggy buddies are doing, it’s also very time-consuming. I’d love to stay connected with you and swap news, though; my main areas will be Facebook and Twitter from now on. Please find me there if you aren’t following me already! Here are the links:

YOUR TURN
What are your goals (writing or otherwise) for 2017?
How do you feel about blogging? Are you still loving it, or are you growing weary?
What are your plans for the holidays—anything unusual, exciting, or heartwarming to share?

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Hi everyone! I've been doing more "real life" than writing these days, but I hope to get back to My Writing Job soon. Meanwhile, through the end of October and a few days into November, my BOTTLED novel is only 99 cents if you haven't snagged yourself a copy! Check it out HERE.

Today I’m featuring a new release by author Jordan Elizabeth (Mierek), a YAfantasy novel called KITISHI ISLAND. Here are the details and a short excerpt:

KISTISHI ISLANDA young adult novel about what happens when your imaginary friends aren’t so imaginary after all.

Serena Cole can kick serious butt thanks to young women only she can see. School bullies aren’t her only problem. To shield Serena from a dark secret, her family tries to convince her that her friends are imaginary.

Fleeing her distrustful aunt, Serena joins her mother on an archeological dig at Kistishi Island. There, Serena discovers an ancient scroll and realizes her invisible friends are goddesses native to the island, and they are in danger of enslavement for their abilities. Only Serena can save her friends if she can discover the past her family has hidden her entire life – the reason why only she can see the goddesses.

Check out Chapter 1:
“How are your imaginary friends?” Serena read aloud from the black marker scrawled on her locker. Her dry lips stuck together with each word as the sarcasm stung her mind. The janitor might scrub the permanent marker, but it would always remain a faint reminder of how much people ridiculed her. The washed out marks from last week, “Schizo,” “Fake,” and “Your imaginary friends hate you,” still showed up against the brown metal.

The last thing she needed was people knowing how much she still communicated with Krieg. Serena glanced down the hallway, but the students strolling by didn’t look her way. Who could have written the graffiti? Roxanne? Her hand trembling, Serena spun the combination on her lock and jerked open the dented locker door. The hinges rattled.

Did it hurt them if she had an invisible friend? As she exchanged a textbook for her social studies notes, someone bumped her butt. She lost her balance, flinging out her hand to grab the locker.

“Whoops,” a boy said and snickered.

Serena’s cheeks burned as she stuffed her supplies into her messenger bag. One more hour of high school and she could go home. Tomorrow she would bring another marker to scribble out the words that branded her.

Krieg leaned in close enough for Serena to smell her peppermint bubble gum, and said, “Bludgeon them. It’s the only way to get them to shut up.”

“No one’s talking about me right now.” Serena’s sneakers squeaked against the tile floor as she ducked into the classroom. Afternoon sunlight reflected off faded Holocaust posters on the off-white walls.

“It’s annoying when you allow the little rodents to torment you.” Krieg stuck her tongue out at the few students settling into their seats. “Where are the beheadings and crocodile pits? How about some maiming? I want to hear screaming and bones crunching.”

“This is the suburbs in the twenty-first century. People don’t do that stuff here.” Serena took her favorite seat in the back near the globe and opened her messenger bag to remove her notebook.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jordan Elizabeth is known for her odd sense of humor and her outrageous outfits. Surrounded by bookshelves, she can often be found pounding away at her keyboard – she’s known for breaking keyboards, too. Jordan’s young adult novels include ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, COGLING, TREASURE DARKLY, BORN OF TREASURE, GOAT CHILDREN, VICTORIAN, and RUNNERS AND RIDERS. KISTISHI ISLAND is her first novel with Clean Reads. Check out her website for bonus scenes and contests.

Win a $5 Amazon gift card!
Giveaway runs from October 27 through November 10.

YOUR TURN
What do you think of the cover of KISTISHI ISLAND?
Growing up, did you ever have an imaginary friend?
How are your writing projects going—are you trying NaNo this year?
Have you read any of Jordan's other books?

Monday, September 19, 2016

The release day of my third book baby has arrived! I’m excited. This was a novel I wrote in 2010 and shelved for years. In 2012, I rewrote it in first person, present tense. Then I dusted it off in 2015, revamping it from a post-apocalyptic dystopian into a science fiction novel, and sold it to Entangled Teen.

And now, an interview with my main character on the planet Liberty (i.e., The Lying Planet. This is not an excerpt, but you can read an excerpt from Chapter 1 on my WEBSITE):

Earth girl, the year 2147: Hello? This is Kasie McCormick from Earth, messaging the planet Liberty. Is anyone connected to the interplanetary hub right now? I have to do a project for my Social Awareness class, and I need a willing victim.

Liberty dweller: Okay, I’m Jay Lawton. I’m 17, almost 18. Turning 18 is a big deal in my colony. We have this silvery Machine that’s shaped like an octopus, and it scans our brains and Tests us on graduation day. If we score high, we get cool rewards like a wristcomm. The really high scorers get a cloudskimmer or a hover vehicle. That’s what I’m aiming for. I’ve logged in a lot of extra hours working in my parents’ garden and collecting eggs at the chicken compound.

Liberty dweller Jay: Yep. Then 25 years ago we had a war, and now most of the planet is bombed out and destroyed. My colony is called Sanctuary, and it’s a safe zone we’ve rebuilt. Refuge and Fort Hope are the other 2 safe zones. We stay away from the outer zones where there’s still a lot of genomide dust.

Earth girl Kasie: What in the twelve galaxies is “genomide dust”?

Liberty dweller Jay: It’s this deadly powder that gets on your skin and in your lungs. Causes genocide, or mass killings. It’s a chemical that burns you—so it’s nothing you want to be around. If the Machine scores us low at our Testings, we’re branded with a “B” on our foreheads and banished to the outer zones where the dust is. Trust me, that’s great motivation to work hard and obey all the strict rules around here.

Earth girl Kasie: Ugh, I bet. Let’s talk about something less creepy. What kind of music do you listen to—any favorite groups?

Liberty dweller Jay: We don’t have recorded music or CDs. At the Nebula, where secondary session kids over 13 hang out and eat, we have live music with technoguitars and singing. I’ve never heard anything besides that. We don’t have movies, either.

Earth girl Kasie: Seriously? Sounds pretty boring. What do you do for fun around the zones?

Liberty dweller Jay: We play helioball, which is this floating, color-changing blob that each team tries to catch when it turns the highest-scoring color. And in the fall we have a Harvest Equinox party. Dancing, sack races, and bobbing for greshfruit, which is sweet like an apple but soft like a nectarine.

Earth girl Kasie: Nice. How else is Liberty different from Earth?

Liberty dweller Jay: Well, we have two moons. Their magnetic pull causes the water from the underground tables to rise every night for an hour starting at 1:00 am. That’s a good thing, because it irrigates our yards and gardens. It never, ever rains here. We also have 13 hours in a day and 8 days in a week, Monday through Restday.

Earth girl Kasie: No rain at all? Wow, interesting. I sure could use an extra day of the week and an extra hour in the day. Especially with this project that’s due tomorrow… So who are your friends?

Liberty dweller Jay: My best friend is Harrel, and my girlfriend’s name is Aubrie…there’s also Peyton, who’s distractingly adorable and clever, and Leonard, who has this annoying scratchy voice and quirky sense of humor. I used to hang with the last two friends back in primary sessions, but they’re rebels now.

Earth girl Kasie: Uh…why are you whispering all of a sudden? Did your parents tell you not to be on the hub right now?

Liberty dweller Jay: It’s night time and I’m not supposed to be awake. And I’m hearing this really freaky noise. Oh, man, I gotta go—

Earth girl Kasie: Wait! I have one more question… Hello? [dead silence]

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

(Parentheses: MY WRITING UPDATE)
My YA sci-fi has been re-titled THE LYING PLANET (formerly Safe Zone), and the release date is now September 19 instead of October via Entangled Teen. I had to do some fast revising here recently to accommodate the new schedule! Now I’m finally back to writing my WIP, a YA fantasy that’s coming along nicely at 56,500 words, about 2/3 done.

`````````````````````````````````TODAY’S FEATURE:
Today I’m pleased to be a part of my longtime writer buddy and critique
partner’s book release! Lynda Young is celebrating the upcoming
publication of her devotional, CLING TO GOD. It’s an encouraging daily
read for Christians to use and grow in their faith. This releases October 18, 2016 from Freedom Fox Press.

Cling to God: A Daily Devotional
Cling to God in the chaos of life…

Cling to God is a book of devotionals for every day of the year. The aim is to encourage Christians in their faith, to help them think about their beliefs and learn more about God. The devotions are short and inspirational so that people with busy lifestyles will still be able to spend time with the Lord each day. It will appeal to a wide Christian audience, to those new in their faith as well as those matured beyond milk and honey.

AUTHOR BIO: Lynda R. Young, a Christian first, writes devotionals, articles, and speculative short stories. In her spare time she is also an editor, game developer, artist, and dabbles in photography and all things creative. She lives in Australia with her sweetheart of a husband. You can find her here: Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

YOUR TURN
Do you know Lynda, or follow her blog?
Do you enjoy playing computer games? I’ve never gotten into it, but my MOM does!
If you write, what’s YOUR current project these days? Or are you taking a vacation?

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Today I’m delighted to feature an interview with my Oregon author friend, Sue Ford, who has just released an inspirational romantic suspense novel from Clean Reads (June 2016). The title of her book is called ALONE.

ALONE
Ready for adventure in the snowy Colorado mountains, Cecelia Gage is thrilled to be employed as the live-in housekeeper for her favorite bestselling author. The twenty-five-year old doesn’t count on Mark Andrews being so prickly, nor becoming part of the small town gossip centering on the celebrity. Neither does she expect to become involved in Andrews family drama and a relationship with Simon Lindley, Mark’s oh-so-good-looking best friend. And certainly, Cecelia has no idea she’ll be mixed up in a murder investigation because of this job.

Will Cecelia’s faith in God get her through all the trouble that lies ahead?

INTERVIEW WITH SUE 1. What do you like about romantic suspense and inspirational novels?
When I was a teen, I fell in love with romantic suspense books. I liked smart female heroines in dangerous situations, imperfect heroes, and tension and suspense. Since that time the inspirational fiction market has become really strong, and I wanted to share my faith as those books do.

2. What makes your book different from other romance novels?
My main character is a live-in housekeeper and cook, so an unusual profession. Also, in many romantic suspense books heroine and hero meet and fall in love in a few days. That doesn’t feel very realistic to me, so I gave my characters time to become friends first.

3. What was the path to publication for this book—long, short, easy, difficult?
This book took a long path to publication. I wrote it very long ago--in the 1980s! It went through some critiques and rewriting and I was unsuccessful at selling it. I set it aside for a long time. Last fall I pulled it out and realized how much I had learned since I'd written it. In my updating and rewriting, I cut 11,000 words. I sent it out to Clean Reads not really expecting anything. Was a nice surprise to get asked if it was still available.

4. Do you use a pen name?
Yes, I actually have two! SM Ford is my initials with my married last name. But I also write for children under my maiden name Susan Uhlig. I like the idea of keeping them separate and have separate websites.

5. What other writing projects are you working on now—what do you hope to accomplish in your writing future?
I also write for children and teens under my maiden name Susan Uhlig, and am working on a "near future" novel in verse. When that is done and out on submission, I have revising to do on a number of other novels. I'd like to see more books in print to reach more readers.

SUE FORD writes inspirational fiction for adults, although teens may find the stories of interest, too. When she was thirteen, she got hooked on Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense books, although she has been a reader as long as she can remember, and is an eclectic reader. Inspirational authors she enjoys include: Francine Rivers, Bodie Thoene, Dee Henderson, Jan Karon, and many more. Sue is a Pacific Northwest gal. She and her husband have two daughters and two sons-in-law and three grandsons. She can’t figure out how she got to be old enough for all that, however. She also loves assisting other writers on their journeys.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

This is an awesome day! BOTTLED is a novel I wrote in 2011-12 that sadly got shelved for years and years. Then, this last winter (2016), I took a chance and submitted it to Clean Reads for publication. It was accepted! It will see the light of day after all, and that bright day has arrived.

BOTTLED
At seventeen, Adeelah Naji is transformed into a genie and imprisoned in a bottle. For a thousand years, she fulfills the wishes of greedy masters, only sustained by the hope of finding Karim, the boy she fell in love with as a human. When at last she finds a note from her beloved, she confirms he has access to the elixir of life and he still searches for her.

But someone else also hunts her—Faruq, a man who plots to use her powers for evil. With the help of a kind master named Nathan, Adeelah searches for Karim while trying to evade Faruq. To complicate matters, she begins to experience growing fatigue and pain after conjuring, and finds herself struggling against an undeniable attraction to Nathan.

As Faruq closes in, Adeelah must decide how she can protect Nathan and be with Karim forever. How much power over her future does she really have, and what is she willing to sacrifice for an eternity of love? If she makes the wrong choice, the deaths of many will be on her hands.

He frowns. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you all-powerful or not? It doesn’t matter if I have endless wishes if all I can get is chutney, cold beer, and pita.”

I hold back a sigh. I prefer to tell him I’m unable to fulfill any of his wishes, limitless or not, but the bottle won’t let me lie. “My powers are restricted only when the wishes involve people. I can’t materialize people who don’t exist or bring them to you against their will. I can’t make them alive if they’ve died, or directly kill them. I also can’t change their bodies, minds, or personalities. But I’m able to take you places, modify objects, and grant you many tangible things.”

“Tangible. What’s that?”

I must say, this guy isn’t the swiftest camel in the caravan. “Things you can touch. No wishing for things like happiness, true love, and infinite world peace.”

[end of excerpt; I hope you enjoyed it!]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOUR TURN
Do you have novels you’ve shelved as a writer, that you hope to revive some day?
As a reader, are you noticing a lot of genie novels being released lately?
What’s your favorite paranormal subject matter (vampires, angels, genies, werewolves, faeries, aliens, mermaids, etc.)?

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Michelle Merrill, author of CHANGING FATE, a YA novel about battling
cystic fibrosis, is releasing her second book today! This new one is
about genies, which is amusing because Michelle and I are critique
partners and a few years ago we both wrote genie novels without knowing
the other was doing it. And now we’re releasing them just one week apart
(my YA, BOTTLED, releases next week on July 7!). Let's help Michelle celebrate the book birthday of GRANTED!!

GRANTED
The existence of genies may be the best kept secret in the history of the world.

After
being trapped in the Sahara Desert her whole life, sixteen-year-old
genie Brielle finally gets her first assignment in Tri-Cities,
Washington. She eagerly heads out into the human world to grant her
first wish so she can gain her magic. Unfortunately, her assigned human,
Addie, gave up believing in wishes years ago and would much rather
everyone just leave her alone.

Complicating everything is Rock,
Brielle’s childhood friend turned enemy. Brielle doesn’t need him
ruining her first trip out into the human world. Too bad she can’t keep
her mind--or her eyes--off him and his annoyingly cute dimples.

To
make matters worse, genies in the Tri-Cities area are suspiciously
dying. One broken lamp could be an accident, but after three, Brielle
suspects someone has uncovered the genies’ secret and is slowly killing
them off one by one. With the Genie Council ignoring the threat, Brielle
desperately needs to gain her magic so she can stop the murderer before
she—or Rock—is the next genie to die.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle
Merrill loves kissing her hubby, snuggling her kids, eating candy,
reading books, and writing first drafts. She names her computers after
favorite fictional characters and fictional characters after favorite
names. To learn more about her, visit her website HERE.

Granted will be available for only $2.99 from June 30th – July 7th! That's discounted from $4.99! So nab your copy on Amazon: HERE.

Also,
you can enter to win a signedcopy on the Future House Publishing
blog HERE, and they’re giving away physical copies on Goodreads starting July 1: HERE.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

As many of you know, in September 2015 I published my debut YA, The Body Institute. I explored body image and identity in a near-future society. Our bodies are the first thing people see about us, and often before we even open our mouths, others make snap judgments or assumptions about us based on our appearance. This includes assessments based on our height, race, gender, hair color/style, clothing, weight, etc. When people value some appearances over others, it can cause doubts in a person whether he or she is “beautiful,” or—worse yet—if he/she even has worth as a human being.

As my character Morgan Dey says, “Am I less of a person because I weigh more?”

Morgan, in The Body Institute, gets a job helping other people lose weight in a society where people are taxed for not being slim and fit. She’s downloaded into their bodies to make them look a certain, “acceptable” way.

Can people who do NOT have a slim, trim, Hollywood-beautiful appearance get featured in YA books? Can they ever be not slender and beautiful at the same time? Are they ever main characters? Is their weight or appearance always the main plot, or can they just “be” and have other goals? YA books I’ve read or seen:

She’s put her TV-loving, nerdy self aside for one summer to prove
she’s got what it takes: she can be cool enough to make friends, she can earn
that music scholarship, and she can get into Krause University’s music program.

Except camp has rigid conduct rules—which means her thrilling
late-night jam session with the hot drummer can’t happen again, even though
they love all the same TV shows, and fifteen minutes making music with him
meant more than every aria she’s ever sung.

But when someone starts snitching on rule breakers and getting
them kicked out, music camp turns into survival of the fittest. If Kiki’s going
to get that scholarship, her chance to make true friends—and her chance with
the drummer guy—might cost her the future she wants more than anything.

Julie Hammerle is the
author of The Sound of Us, which will be published by Entangled Teen on June 7,
2016. Before settling down to write "for real," she studied opera,
taught Latin, and held her real estate license for one hot minute. Currently,
she writes about TV on her blog Hammervision, ropes people into conversations
about Game of Thrones, and makes excuses to avoid the gym. Her favorite
YA-centric TV shows include 90210 (original spice), Felicity, and Freaks and
Geeks. Her music playlist reads like a 1997 Lilith Fair set list.

She lives in Chicago with her husband, two kids, and a dog. They
named the dog Indiana.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Today I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of my YA fantasy,
BOTTLED! My book finally has a “face.” CHECK THIS OUT!!

This was designed by Cora Graphics, who does covers for my
publisher, Clean Reads. I think it fits the tone of the novel very well. I think the genie may look a bit more sultry and older than the 17 Adeelah is supposed to look in the story, but
this genie is beautiful, so I don’t care!

View the book summary or add this to your Goodreads reading list: BOTTLED

Only 6 weeks until the July 7 release!!

YOUR TURN

What do you think of my cover? What’s your favorite part of
it?

Do you often fuss about what your cover will look like before you get it?

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

A MASTER OF INVENTED LANGUAGE
J.R.R. Tolkein did it. He loved making up languages, creating (among other ones in less depth) two different Elvish tongues, Qenya and Sindarin, for his books set in Middle Earth.

Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. My daughters used to run around chanting this when they were young, especially after I found the actual One Ring online with those very words inscribed on them in Elvish writing. It made for a great Christmas present(s)! Translated, the words mean: “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.”

USING REAL LANGUAGES
In the 1990s, I included some Hindi phrases in a YA book I was writing set in alternate-India. It was great fun researching. One of the fascinating things I learned was that for Hindi, the tongue is placed differently for sounds like “t” and “d.” It’s more of a “dental” tongue placement; where English-spreaking people usually say these consonants with the tongue touching the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge), Hindi speakers say them with the tongue touching just behind their teeth. Cool!

MY NEW NOVEL
My new YA novel, my WIP (work-in-progress) is a fairy tale retelling. The main character does not speak the language of humans; she calls it “human-speak.” Of course, from her viewpoint, she speaks the English words that I’m writing in the narrative and usual dialogue, so when I had her attempt to communicate with a human, I decided to invent a language that would be “human-speak.” Such fun! For the base of my ideas for these words, I blended bits of French, Spanish, and Latin together to come up with a unique language all its own.

CAUTION
The caution with using real languages as well as made-up ones is not to overdo it. Readers may not be as entranced at your authentic or invented words as you are. Use them sparingly, like salt—for flavor, rather than heavily saturated. This is similar to using dialect or presenting people from other cultures or geographic areas or educations (dropping the g’s at the end of words, for instance): it’s very easy to overwhelm the page and the reader. I realized this when I got a little weary inventing more and more words. I decided my reader would be tired of it as I was getting; I had to go back and pare some usages down. Flavor, not saturation.

YOUR TURN
Have you ever made up a language in a short story or novel you’ve written?
Have you ever included a foreign language in your manuscripts? Spanish, French, etc?
Have you memorized the Elvish inscription/chant for The One Ring?
JK Rowling carefully based her magical chants in Harry Potter on Latin. Do you know some wand commands from the books—what is the forbidden spell that kills others?

Monday, March 28, 2016

Today I'm happy to help announce the release of GOAT CHILDREN by Jordan Elizabeth. I've read and enjoyed her novel, COGLING, and this one sounds interesting too.

GOAT CHILDREN
A young adult novel with a touch of fantasy, love, and imagination versus reality.

When Keziah’s grandmother, Oma, is diagnosed with dementia, Keziah faces two choices: leave her family and move to New Winchester to care for Oma, or stay in New York City and allow her grandmother to live in a nursing home miles away.

The dementia causes Oma to be rude and paranoid, nothing like the woman Keziah remembers. Each day becomes a greater weight and love a harsher burden. Keziah must keep Oma from wandering off or falling, and try to convince her grandmother to see a doctor as her eyesight and hearing fail, but Oma refuses to believe anything is wrong. Resentful of her hardships in New Winchester, Keziah finds herself drawn to Oma’s ramblings about the Goat Children, a mythical warrior class. These fighters ride winged horses, locating people in need, while attempting to destroy evil in the world. Oma sees the Goat Children everywhere, and as Keziah reads the stories Oma wrote about them, she begins to question if they really exist.

Jordan Elizabeth, formally Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, is known for her odd sense of humor and her outrageous outfits. Surrounded by bookshelves, she can often be found pounding away at her keyboard – she’s known for breaking keyboards, too. Jordan’s young adult novels include ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, COGLING, TREASURE DARKLY, and BORN OF TREASURE. GOAT CHILDREN is her first novel with CHBB. Her short stories are featured in over twenty anthologies.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

I’m thrilled to announce I’ve signed with Clean Reads for my third YA novel!! This one is actually a fantasy, called BOTTLED. The ebook will release in July 2016, making it come out before my sci-fi from Entangled Teen, SAFE ZONE, which releases in October 2016.

I used to watch “I Dream of Jeannie” all the time as a young girl (yes, I am that old), along with “Bewitched.” I loved those shows! Except I have to admit sometimes Jeannie drove me NUTS with all the torturous scrapes and tangles she got her master into. This novel is a more serious tribute to the show, with my genie having more limited powers; she can only conjure what her masters allow her to.

Here’s the book summary:BOTTLED
At seventeen, Adeelah Naji is transformed into a genie and imprisoned in a bottle. For a thousand years, she fulfills the wishes of greedy masters—building their palaces, lining their pockets with gold, and granting them every earthly pleasure. All that sustains her is the hope of finding Karim, the boy she fell in love with as a human. When at last she finds a note from her beloved, she confirms he has access to the elixir of life and that he still searches for her.

But someone else also hunts her. Faruq—the man who plots to use her powers to murder and seize the life forces of others—is just one step behind her. With the help of a kind master named Nathan, Adeelah continues to search for Karim while trying to evade Faruq. To complicate matters, she begins to experience growing fatigue and pain after conjuring, and finds herself struggling against an undeniable attraction to Nathan.

As Faruq closes in, Adeelah must decide just how much she’ll risk to protect Nathan and be with Karim forever. How much power does she really have to change her future, and what is she willing to sacrifice for an eternity of love? If she makes the wrong choice, the deaths of many will be on her hands.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Today I’m pleased to help showcase the beautiful cover of a YA fantasy novel by my blogger-author friend, Rebekah Purdy. This is the third and final book in her series that began with THE WINTER PEOPLE and continued with THE SUMMER MARKED.

THE WINTER’S SPITE
On the eve of the winter solstice, Salome receives word of a family tragedy in the human world, and an urgent request to return home. But after a failed attack on Winter, and the whereabouts of the Winter Court unknown, Nevin forbids her to go, declaring it too dangerous. However, Salome knows she needs to be with her family and can’t sit by to wait for the inevitable.

Gwenn has been a royal guard most of her life, and although she’s not a fan of humans, she has to admit Salome’s growing on her. So when Salome begs her to cover for her for a few days so she can be with her family, Gwenn can’t refuse. Gwenn soon finds herself creating diversions to keep Nevin from discovering Salome’s disappearance. Problem is the Council is growing suspicious of Salome’s absence, and has started making threats about Nevin’s removal as king. With her lie on the brink of discovery, Gwenn needs to find out what’s taking her brother and Salome so long to return. When she discovers the portals are closed, and someone within the Council has betrayed Summer, Gwenn knows the kingdom’s in jeopardy. But before she can confide in Nevin about helping Salome leave Faerie, Gwenn finds herself at the enemy’s mercy, fighting for her life.

When Salome arrives in the human world, she finds everything in chaos. Grisselle, the Winter Queen, has done the impossible and brought war to Salome’s world. And Kadie is acting as her right hand. Monsters born of man’s worst nightmares roam the streets—dark faeries and ghosts bring terror and destruction. And to her horror she discovers an old enemy is back from the dead, while a new one lurks in the shadows—watching her, hunting her—preparing to make its move. And this time they mean to finish what they started.

Without further ado, here is the cover for this book. Isn’t it lovely??!

Get ready! THE WINTER’S SPITE will release this summer, June 27, 2016.

Author Bio:Rebekah was born and raised in Michigan where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. She’s lived in Michigan most of her life other than the few years she spent in the U.S. Army. At which time she got a chance to experience Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, and California. Rebekah has a business degree from University of Phoenix and currently works full time for the court system. In her free time she writes YA stories, anything from YA Fantasy to YA Contemporary Romance. Rebekah also has a big family (6 kids) she likes to consider her family as the modern day Brady Bunch complete with crazy road trips and game nights. When not hiding at her computer, Rebekah enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games, traveling, and hanging out with her family and gazillion pets.

YOUR TURN
Do you like to read books in a series vs standalone books? Why or why not?
What do you think of Rebekah’s new cover?
Did you race out and add this book or the whole series to your reading list?!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Sometimes it’s refreshing to change things up from the normal things you write as a writer. Especially if you usually write novels, it’s fun to fiddle on a flashfiction piece, craft a short story, jot down some stream of consciousness thoughts, or pen a Haiku or poem. Yesterday I wrote some one-sentence lines that were really fun (even though I should’ve been writing on my new fairy tale retelling novel).

THE WORST EVER CONTEST
What I did was enter a contest I saw mentioned in the Publisher’s Weekly newsletter. Here are the details:

WHERE: Publisher’s Weekly ShelfTalker article HERE. Just comment to enter!WHAT: Write not necessarily the world’s worst sentence, but according to the Bulwer-Lytton award description, “…compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” Examples are listed in the article, and there is a link to the Bulwer-Lytton site to peruse past winners’ lines.WHEN: Deadline is Sunday, January 17. Winners announced January 18, 2016. DETAILS: You can enter in different categories, from picture book to horror to science fiction. I entered more than once, although it did NOT say you could in this article…it said you could on the 2015 Bulwer-Lytton site, though. PRIZES: ARC books and “rare prizes.” And the thrill of having won, of course.

MY ENTRIES(Misc./Romance): The minute Kacy’s eyes landed on him like a pair of bottleflies to a cow pie, she pegged him for the kind of bad boy her mother had always warned her about—she saw it in his bedroom-lidded eyes, his dangerous Walmart jeans, and the disdainful haircut that simply screamed “Edward Scissorhands.”

Fantasy: Little known amongst the troubled villagers of Wunce-Upon-a-Thyme, a certain glass-half-empty nerd on the edge of town named Clod the Hopper was at that very moment watering the plants in his master’s recreational herb shop, destined to be The One.Young Adult: Heart pounding, I stare at the mess that used to be my locker—the lipsticked magnetic mirror, the spilled Skittles, and the books tossed face-down with no regard to their spines—right as Lacey Wunderbar, head cheerleader, struts by with her trio of minions in a sweep of smug, popular-scented air.

(Misc.): The cat knew by the slam of the car door in the driveway that her carnage would soon be discovered, so, scattering litter gravel from between her toes, she leaped to the window seat in order to lounge far from the incriminating (now empty) package of silently thawing lamb chops that had met their untimely demise just a few minutes prior.

YOUR TURN
Have you ever entered a writing contest before?
Do you think you might give this contest a whirl, if you have time before Sunday?
Have you ever switched up your writing routine, and thrown in some Haiku, a short story, some journaling, or a flashfiction?